Pharmacists

Your Nov. 30 package of stories on pharmacists ["RX: Take With Advice"] was very informative, but you and the pharmacists omitted two very important suggestions for readers: Carry a printed list of all your prescription and nonprescription drugs in your wallet or purse. Include name of drug and your dosage and frequency. I also have the list (mine and my wife's) as a memo on my BlackBerry. When you get a new prescription, read the literature that the pharmacy prints out and gives you. Arnold Daitch Northridge :: My grandfather was a pharmacist who used to compound some of his own medicines.

SACRAMENTO--The Assembly approved a measure Thursday that would permanently extend a provision allowing pharmacists to sell syringes without a prescription. Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), the bill's author, said expanding access to sterile needles is "the best way to stop the spread of some very deadly diseases. " Public health experts say the use of shared needles among intravenous drug users contributes to the spread of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Current state law that allows pharmacists to dispense up to 30 needles at a time without a prescription is set to expire at the end of this year. The bill, AB 1743, would permanently allow pharmacists to sell syringes over the counter.

SACRAMENTO - Measures that would expand the roles of nurse practitioners and pharmacists advanced in the Assembly on Tuesday, setting the stage for a fierce lobbying battle in the session's final weeks. Both measures wade into the so-called scope of practice debate over what type of medical care can be administered by non-physicians, setting off a turf war between doctors and other medical providers. The more contentious of the two bills is SB 491, which would allow nurse practitioners to practice without physicians' supervision.

In his 30 years as a pharmacist, including three at a CVS Caremark store in Northern California, Wayne Wilson said it was all too common for drugstore employees to steal prescription drugs, which would often make their way to the black market. "It happens far more often than people realize," he told me. "I used to be shocked. I'm not shocked any more. " Wilson said he personally intervened after a CVS pharmacy worker in Eureka was caught slipping painkillers into his pocket. That worker was arrested and fired, he said.

Chris Cullum normally gets his prescriptions filled at a CVS Caremark store in San Diego. But, while traveling, he placed orders at a CVS branch in Arizona this year and at a branch in Illinois last year. In both cases, Cullum said, he subsequently received calls from the stores in those states letting him know that refills were ready. Two things make this noteworthy. One: Cullum, like other CVS customers who have related similar experiences, never signed up for the pharmacy's automatic-refill program, ReadyFill.

America is short of pharmacists to properly dispense the more than $70 billion in prescription drugs that we take each year, and the serious shortage is expected to get worse. With all of the world's other problems, the need for more pharmacists may seem to be minor. But they are a crucial part of our health-care system, and their mistakes can be devastating. As the number of the elderly rises, so does the demand for prescription drugs and therefore for people to fill them.

When the smoke cleared from the devastating fires of 1993, pharmacist Susan McCalla Ornellas gave free medication, toothbrushes, eyedrops and other necessities to hundreds of victims. Then she did the same after devastating rains flooded the area after the fire and again in 1995. For all of that, she was recently recognized by the 6,000-member California Pharmacists Assn. as its 1996 Bowl of Hygeia recipient for outstanding community service.

Welcome to your friendly neighborhood drugstore, where you can buy lawn sprinklers, Dove Bars, cat litter, greeting cards and--oh, yes--prescription medicines. Way in the back of the store, on a raised dais surrounded by frosted glass, pharmacists tap into computer files and pack pills into brown bottles. But practitioners of the job that has been described as an endless round of "count and pour, lick and stick" are pushing to give their customers more than this.

When he arrived for his first visit, the 55-year-old diabetic had no idea what constituted a healthy diet, says pharmacist Steven Chen. "He ate two or three dinners a night, such as two whole pizzas about an hour apart." And he didn't know how to manage low blood sugar attacks. "He would eat an entire pie or cake instead of the recommended one serving of carbohydrate every 15 minutes." Not only did Chen advise his patient about good nutrition and exercise, he stressed the importance of taking his medications every day exactly as prescribed.

Walgreen Co. pharmacists in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana will begin a strike today against the largest U.S. drugstore chain. The National Pharmacists Assn., which represents 1,200 Walgreen pharmacists at 400 stores in the Chicago area, told members not to report to work after 10 p.m. Central time today, according to the union's website. The employees rejected a contract offer and authorized a strike last week. They are seeking improved staffing levels and working conditions.

An Orange County pharmacist has won a $20,000 judgment against two companies he said stiffed him on pay for work he did on a state contract while the firms were co-owned by the husband of state Sen. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine). The state labor commissioner found that pharmacist Larry Drechsler of Orange County had not been paid more than $4,000 that was owed him for services provided to the companies, American Healthcare Recruiting and Drug Consultants Inc. The rest of the award was for interest and penalties.

SACRAMENTO - Measures that would expand the roles of nurse practitioners and pharmacists advanced in the Assembly on Tuesday, setting the stage for a fierce lobbying battle in the session's final weeks. Both measures wade into the so-called scope of practice debate over what type of medical care can be administered by non-physicians, setting off a turf war between doctors and other medical providers. The more contentious of the two bills is SB 491, which would allow nurse practitioners to practice without physicians' supervision.

In a office decorated with Chinese art and diagrams of body parts, Dr. George Ma cares for more than 4,000 patients. Nearly three-quarters are covered by Medi-Cal, the state's public insurance program for low-income Californians, and Ma said he receives $10 a month to treat most of them. This summer, when California makes a controversial 10% cut to Medi-Cal rates, he could get paid less. Ma said he didn't go into safety net medicine for the money, but he worries that the reductions will make it even harder for his patients to get medication, medical equipment and appointments with specialists.

Amid opposition from the pharmaceutical industry, state senators Tuesday failed to pass a bill that would have significantly enhanced a prescription monitoring program aimed at curbing drug abuse and overdose deaths. Under the proposed legislation, the program - known as CURES - would have received a steady stream of funding from an increase in licensing fees on pharmacists, physicians and other prescribers. The bill also called for a tax on drug makers to allow the attorney general to hire teams of investigators to crack down on drug-seeking patients and doctors who recklessly prescribe to them.

Frederic Franklin Dancer helped popularize modern ballet in U.S. Frederic Franklin, 98, a British-born dancer who helped popularize modern ballet in the United States, died Saturday at a Manhattan, N.Y., hospital of complications from pneumonia, according to his partner, William Ausman. Franklin last appeared with the American Ballet Theatre at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts three years ago - as a friar in "Romeo and Juliet. " "He was a seminal figure in the ballet world," said the company's artistic director, Kevin McKenzie.

An Orange County pharmacist who admitted to wiring $2,050 to Pakistan to be used to fund terrorist activities was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison. Oytun Ayse Mihalik, 40, a Turkish national and a permanent U.S. resident, pleaded guilty in August to one count of providing material support to terrorists for three money orders she sent over a month's time in late 2010 and early 2011. Mihalik used a false name, "Cindy Palmer," to send the funds, according to authorities.

Drug interactions can lead to serious problems. Even taking something as seemingly benign as an over-the-counter cold medication could lead to an unpleasant, or dangerous, interaction with a so-routine-you-don't-even-think-about-it prescription drug. This panel of pharmacists can help sort out what drugs cause reactions and how to avoid unwanted ones. A live Web chat Thursday (noon EST, 11 a.m. CST, 9 a.m. PST) will feature Stefanie C. Nigro, assistant clinical professor at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy; Laura Hobbs, pharmacy clinical coordinator and director of the pharmacy residency program at Hartford Hospital; and Flora Harp, community practice resident for CVS/pharmacy.

I appreciated your article about the expanding services offered by local pharmacists ("A Far Different Pharmacy," June 26). Physicians who feel threatened by pharmacists offering disease management and education services may be missing the point. The expanding role of pharmacists is complementary to that of physicians. In fact, a growing number of pharmacists are setting up collaborative relationships with doctors. In a health-care system in which doctors have limited time to spend with their patients, pharmacists are stepping up and providing quality services that patients need, increasingly in collaboration with physicians.

SACRAMENTO - As the state moves to expand healthcare coverage to millions of Californians under President Obama's healthcare law, it faces a major obstacle: There aren't enough doctors to treat a crush of newly insured patients. Some lawmakers want to fill the gap by redefining who can provide healthcare. They are working on proposals that would allow physician assistants to treat more patients and nurse practitioners to set up independent practices. Pharmacists and optometrists could act as primary care providers, diagnosing and managing some chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and high-blood pressure.

Joey Rovero's quest for pills ended at Pacifica Pharmacy. It was the same for Naythan Kenney, Matt Stavron and Joseph Gomez. All four were patients of a Rowland Heights physician who was a prolific prescriber of narcotic painkillers and other addictive drugs. To get their fix, they needed more than a piece of paper. They needed a pharmacist willing to dispense the drugs, and at Pacifica they found one. All four died of drug overdoses after filling prescriptions at the tiny pharmacy in Huntington Beach, court and coroners' records show.